China Popular Itineraries |
|
|
|
|
2.9 A Love Story of Niu Lang, the Farmer, and Zhi Nšč, the Weaveress from the Heaven |
Niu Lang lived from his childhood with his elder brother and his wife and was badly treated by them. Later, when he was driven out of their house he1 had only an ox as his companion. Zhi Nšč, a weaveress, was the granddaugh. ter of God in the Heaven and she often descended to the earth to take a bath in the pond with her sisters in her spare time. One day, Niu Lang accepted his ox's advice and stole the clothes of Zhi Na when she took her bath. Zhi Nšč could not rise back to the Heaven, so she got married with Niu Lang and gave brith to a boy and a girl. The man ploughed in the fields and harvested, and the woman wove cooked and fed the children. They lived a happy life. But when God heard of this he went angry and sent a group of Heaven generals and soldiers descending to the earth to catch Zhi Nšč. Zhi Nšč was brought back to the Heaven, but Niu Lang could not follow her. He could only weep with his son and daughter. Just at that time, his ox was dying. It told Niu Lang that when it died he could fly to the Heaven if only he put its skin on his shoulders. Doing as the old ox told him, Niu Lang actually flew to the Heaven with his son and daughter shouldered in two large bamboo baskets. He was about to touch his wife when the Goddess drew a line in the Heaven with her gold hairpin. Suddenly a turbulent Heaven river (the Milky Way) appeared before Niu Lang. Niu Lang and Zhi Nti had no alternative but look at each other across the wide river. Years later, God was moved by the love of Niu Lang and Zhi Nil, so he permitted them to meet once a year. According to Chinese lunar calender on the seventh day of the seventh month, crowds of magpies flew there and bridged the river with their bodies and wings to let the family get together. "
|
|
